Is Blackbery Mobile Fusion an admission of defeat?

RIM has just recently announced that it will be including in it's Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) the ability to manage Android and iOS phones, something that up to this point has been key in making Blackberry 'the' enterprise phone as this is how the devices are secured.


Things haven't been going well for RIM, it was once the 'hot' stock, trading around $88.08 in November 2009 and is as low as $18/share thanks to many a bad decision and no feasible plan to turn that price around. I am not a trader and I don't write about RIM on a regular basis (that's probably obvious), but I am left wondering if RIM actually intends to turn things around or if this announcement is actually a backup plan.


I think they are planning for their eventual failure in the phone market as it doesn't really make sense to provide a tool that would allow big enterprise to use non-Blackberry phones. It feels like they are trying to grab on to something that would still keep them in the enterprise even if the Blackberry were to eventually fade away, and if that ever happened you would probably see some sort of Blackberry e-mail software for other devices akin to 'Blackberry Connect'. If it does work the way that I think it does and is implemented, you can almost guarantee that executives in every enterprise will be clamoring for the latest iOS or Android device, since securing the devices was the only thing preventing that in the first place. It will also almost guarantee that there will be a steady decline in RIM's phone market share. Maybe it is not as simple as that, perhaps they have somethng up their sleeves that would make using a Blackberry worthwhile.


But in order to turn things around, RIM would have to understand what is most affecting them and it doesn't seem that they do. I personally think what is most affecting them is a combination of what the anonymous high-level RIM employee had stated (stagnation and endless levels of bureaucracy) and R&D on a more capable OS on par with iOS.


Back in the day (pre-2007) most people thought that there could very few phones that could compete in RIM's space. I remember at the time, that I could either have the Blackberry or a Treo 650, though I did love PalmOS, it was not a phone that you could really rely on as it would crash regularly and the interface/device was clunky by comparison. My Curve 8300 on the other hand was stable, just started having multimedia features running on Blackberry OS4 which was wirelessly syncing my calendar, tasks and memos back to the Exchange server... who could compete with that?


Apple could, it took a little bit of time to get people to leave the comfort of rock solid e-mail, BBM and a physical keyboard, but they have done it. RIM has had more than enough time respond to the iPhone and here is how they chose to do it:

• The blackberry storm: Came out in November 2008 and ran OS5 and you had to physically 'click' the screen down for it to acknowledge a key press. Don't know what they were thinking, perhaps that only the touch screen made the phone?

• The blackberry storm2: Came out in October 2009 again running OS5 which still had the physical 'click', but not quite as bad as the first iteration. This is just a response to the unusable touch screen of the first storm and nothing more.

• The blackberry torch: Came out in August of 2010 the first device to run OS6 and the only touch screen blackberry that was ever 'like' and iPhone/Android phone.

So from June 2007 (the iPhone release) the best they could do for 1 year and 4 months is a device that almost everyone regretted buying due to the touch screen and general bugginess. It then took another 3 years to finally get a real 'hardware' answer to the iPhone but was was still no where close to competing with it in software.


With that being said and with all of the news of the last year, I am fairly positive that there is no clearly defined plan for Blackberry's future. In 4 years they have not figured out a way to make Blackberry phones compelling enough to buy or develop for.
After the iPhone initially launched the first thing they should have done was to figure out how a Blackberry device stands up to an iOS device. I am not sure who they had looking at it, but clearly the first thing RIM should have done was to speed up all OS development and try to create an ecosystem. Of course that is exactly what RIM didn't do and for whatever reason they decided only to mimic the device in hardware.
Software has been a disaster on the Blackberry and since the handset is only as good as the software running on it, it is no wonder people are choosing other phones. In terms of core functionality the Blackberry did it's job well and still provided e-mail to it's corporate users. But regular consumers are not going to be happy with just e-mail, they want their games, Facebook and Twitter in addition to their e-mail. This is where the disconnect begins because almost every consumer who has lived life on a Blackberry for a few years is blown away by what is possible on an iPhone (and Android) and it will most likely what they end up with when when they renew their contracts.


I have had a blackberry ever since the monochrome 957 (when it wasn't even a phone) and I have not seen any major improvements in the software over time, or at least not the type of changes you would expect would stand up to iOS and Android. It is the same display of icons, with the same standard blackberry applications (e-mail, calendar, tasks, memos). The Blackberry has only ever really gained the ability to play media and take pictures/videos other than that, it is fundamentally the same in most ways to Blackberry OS2 that ran on that 957. The only software that I have find to be worth mentioning in all of App World is:

• Nimbuzz
• UberTwitter
• Facebook (for every phone)
• File Scout
• Gmail
• Gmail Sync
• Opera Mini (a must for every blackberry, even OS6)
• Drive Safe.ly (don't ever use)
• Player for YouTube
• YellowPages
• Linked In
• Citrix
• Google Maps

Blackberry OS 4, 5, 6 and 7 are virtually the same with just UI fixes and social feeds, so there really isn't anything worth mentioning. RIM is just stalling by releasing it's latest Bold and Torch, there is absolutely nothing that makes them any different than previous versions (with the exception that the Bold for some reason has a touch screen).


So just to recap, since June of 2007, 4 years and 5 months ago all we have is a touch screen device running the same OS all blackberries have shared for years, only slightly better. I have deliberately neglected to mention the other devices and the distraction that is the Playbook, but with this much time between the debut of the iPhone and now, how can we expect anything to be different? All I expect is more disappointments and missed targets... possibly an acquisition.


I don't mean to be down on RIM, I was rooting for them for a long time but I am through hoping that they will come from behind and reclaim what they are losing. I can only offer up what I think they should do to come back:

• Shake up management. Put someone in charge that will change things up. The days of the CO-CEOs stating that everything is fine and that they have a plan are over.
• Split the blackberry devices into consumer and enterprise phones. If the problem is that you can't move fast due to the enterprise, create a consumer phone that is on par with the iphone to give you the time to upgrade the enterprise phones to the same level.
• Pause the Playbook. It is taking far too much time and attention when their core business is suffering. The iPad owns that space and RIM is too far behind application wise to even come close to being competition for it.
• Refocus on the OS for the device. Take all the focus that was placed on the distraction that is the Playbook and make a phone that competes with the iPhone or Android. Once the OS is finished, entice developers, give them a better deal than can be found anywhere else 80/20 or 90/10 the platform is going to be built on them. It should be easy enough that developers won't even blink an eye at wanting to develop for it and at the very least they should be #3 in the development order, the first 2 being iOS and Android.
• Build an ecosystem. Though they are trying with BBM Music, they are putting far too much focus into 1 specific Blackberry application. They should be building it into App World, where the store front is and emulating iTunes just like the Android Marketplace and the XBox MarketPlace (or whatever it is called) is doing. You want to give people the apps, music, video and everything else they need in one spot and you want to have enough content there to keep people interested.

But what do I know? I am but a humble tech employee.

Update: Here is an article not even 24 hours from the post describing their predicament (because of the playbook) http://m.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/rim-to-miss-targets-take-playbook-hit/article2257745/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-Front+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+-+Latest+News%29&service=mobile


Update2: Seems that CNN Money agrees with me: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/30/rims-new-motto-if-you-cant-beat-them-join-them/?section=magazines_fortune&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmagazines_fortune+%28Fortune+Magazine%29

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF-101

Alright, the post isn't actually about transformers (which I have been a huge fan of since I was a kid), it is about my TF-101 Asus Eee Pad transformer, which I have been enjoying immensly since I bought it this month.

As I mentioned previously in my about post, I am an avid listener of podcasts and spend a lot of time hearing about the 'next big thing' and the various reviews of them. I am also a regular passenger on the GO transit train system here in Toronto (to commute to work) and in addition to listening to what new tech toys are out there, I get to see them first hand on my way in. So let me tell you first how I got this cool little device, before I get to my thoughts on it and using a tablet in general.

The story behind my eee pad:

For the vast majority of my life being a parent, many things have come in the way of me getting some of these new toys... most parents are familiar with the house bills, kids and other things that generally divert funds away from where I would ideally place them... so needless to say I have been in a constant state of tech envy for years.

About 9 months ago, I started to hear reviews about the Macbook Air and how thin/light it was and everyone seemed to be raving about it, so I thought to myself, that's the computer for me! So I started to run the idea through the budget committee (wife) to see when we could fit this purchase in. To my surprise, it happened not even 2 months later while we were in Best Buy, I was literally minutes from purchasing it, but for some reason decided to hold off on it. After that my approval was revoked for a bit and became busy, so I didn't really think too much on it.

So about 3 months ago I shifted my position on the GO train, which occassionally people do (but not often, you can seriously see the same people everyday in the same spot... almost as if you work with them). Before the move I was used to seeing people and their iPad 1 ; 2's, it was no sweat for me... didn't really have an interest in one. In my new spot I am sitting near an older woman, must be in her 60's and she ALWAYS has her iPad out. This started to bug me. It's not that I don't think that older people shouldn't embrace tech, or even that I really care that she even has an iPad... it was the thought of me, self-proclaimed technofile sitting on a train with an iPhone 3G trying to make the most out of the slow device and there is an older woman, who most likely does not have an interest at all in tech, sitting across from me with newer tech. How is it possible that I am so late to the game that an older woman has newer tech than I do?

After about 2 weeks of watching how wonderfully she played her word games on her iPad I had had enough, I needed to correct this imbalance. So I got thinking on the Macbook Air again, but also on how nice it would be to have some sort of a touch screen. Also being a huge Linux fan, thought that maybe I should get out of the walled garden that is Apple to the more open pastures of Android. Then an ad that I had been seeing a lot recently at Walmart popped into my mind... a tablet with a keyboard! Eureka! That's it, that's what I want! I wanted to try out Android anyway. So I checked it out at Walmart and looked up reviews. Long story short, have an eee Pad transformer that I am now blogging from.

Thoughts on Android:

After nearly 3 weeks or more (not really keeping track) I am really impressed with Android 3.2, can't actually wait to see what 4.0 is going to bring. Before this device all I had was an iPod2G and an iPhone 3G, so I only knew Windows, Linux and iOS. I was pleasantly surprised as to how easy it was to catch on and how many things I preferred on Android vs. iOS. So first, based on my information from my fellow technologists, here are a few things I thought would be a problem with Android:

• Inconsistency/instability in the platform.
• Android Market would be the 'wild west' and it would be difficult to find software.
• Worries about updates to the platform.

To my surprise, when starting to use my TF-101 about the only thing that I couldn't wrap my mind around initially was how the home screens were setup, and how to add/remove items from it. The platform was rock solid, I didn't have any hangs that required rebooting the device and when there was a pesky program that seemed to soak up the CPU, Android told me about it and asked me nicely if I would like to terminate it or wait. 

The Android Marketplace was another surprise (and even more so with the recent changes), I had NO IDEA what I should be putting on this device, but when going to the Marketplace it was a nice surprise to find that most good programs that are in the Apple Appstore are also in the Android Marketplace... or at least the ones that I cared about. This was a no-pain transition, which totally surprised me, but the fact that I am a technical person probably helps that a lot. 

Something that I have heard about in the tech world regarding Android devices are that updates are few and far between. Because of this I thought that perhaps I will get one more major update to the platform for this device before the OS remains static. While that remains to be seen, ASUS has promised ICS for this device so at least I am guaranteed at least 1 upgrade. If you do a little research out on the net, you can quickly quash most worries as there is always Cyanogen mod and if all else fails you can even put Linux on it (which i will likely do when there are no further updates).

Another couple of things that I like about Android specifically is the multi-tasking and the settings. I have been so accustomed to my jailbroken iPhone 3G multitasking (if you can call it that) that I thought it would be the same on Android, but it isn't. Things multitask quite well on the OS and my standard for testing this was the Citrix connection into work with my iPhone vs. my TF-101. With iPhone it 'pauses' the app, so you either end up re-loading the app from the beginning or it will just continue from its paused state, which doesn't work too well for Citrix given that it depends on a network connection. So on the iPhone, if I ever move away from the app, it results in me having to log in which is a complete pain. On the TF-101 I can jump to many different applications and when I move back to Citrix, there it is, waiting for me network connection and all. Closer to true multitasking if you ask me, I would say full, but I have found from time to time apps are paused or unloaded and I have no idea what the process is for that or why it happens.

The settings are also great as there are a lot of things that you can access and change, the specific things that got me were to be able to 1) See what applications are running and kill them. 2) See what applications or things that are killing your battery. Those 2 things are enough to make me think highly of the settings along with the presentation of the settings, but I am sure there are many more things that make it interesting.

Thoughts on the TF-101:

After having this device for a while I think it is one of the best devices out there, and I think it is a ground breaking genre... just not revolutionary, because the concept is nothing new. I like to think of it as the blackberry torch of the tablet world, only in the sense that it is the best of both worlds... you have your touch screen and also a keyboard, the choice is totally up to you. I don't know about you, but I find typing on a tablet a miserable experience no matter what trick you try and believe me I have tried. One I often try is to hoverer my hands just above the keyboard to try and avoid touching the screen. This does not work well, I am certainly not going to get 80 - 100 words per minute this way, and this is what makes me so glad that I have the option of a keyboard.

I know that there are some purists out there that believe that if you are going to have a tablet, it should be just that, a tablet. But I find that to be an extreme point of view because there is no reason why you cannot have both if you want to, and the TF-101 makes that very enticing in a lot of ways. I don't believe the argument should be netbook vs. tablet, it should be about what works.

So here is my list of things that I think are brilliant about the TF-101, we will call it the 'pros' list:

Battery life:

According to specifications, it is supposed to be usable for 16 hours because it actually has 2 batteries, one in the tablet and one in the keyboard dock. I have been using the device an entire day (watching movies (sometimes flash), playing games, typing documents and surfing the web - my typical use case) and I have never gotten the battery down to less than 50%. I can't tell you how great it is to use something and not even give a passing thought to the battery life. This so much better than the 3 hour laptop battery life I am used to, it is a complete breath of fresh air and one of the things that makes the TF-101 such a great device.

One thing you probably didn't know, or at least I didn't see it anywhere is how the 2 individual batteries work together. Not that I know what ASUS had in mind when they developed this, but all indications are that they anticipated that you would use the TF-101 as a tablet before you would use it as a netbook. So, when you undock screen and use it as a tablet you start drawing from the tablet specific battery. But rather than just have the keyboard battery as just an additional battery (which in the event that your tablet battery was near death you would be forced to use the keyboard), they have instead configured the keyboard battery to charge the tablet battery. So you may have to use your keyboard for just a little while, but while you use it you will be charging the tablet for use.

I think this is a terrific idea and one of the things that makes this tablet/keyboard combination work so well.

Storage Capacity:

So by now, living in a world of iOS devices we are used to buying a device with a predetermined amount of space. But with Android that sort of decision is left with the manufacturer and ASUS (and probably most other manufacturers) think that you should have some input on that. So another one of the key things that I love about this device is the options for storage.

Starting with the flash storage, the TF-101 that I bought has a total of 16GB on board, which would set you back $499 on an iPad2, but what it has that the iPad does not is expandable flash storage. On the side of the tablet there is a MicroSD slot that can take flash memory up to 64GB (haven't found a max yet, presumably if it wasn't 64 it would be 32). And as if that is not enough there is an additional SD card to the side of the keyboard dock for a maximum of (160GB of storage, or in my case with the 16GB version, 144GB ==> Onboard Memory + MicroSD + SD). This does not also include the fact that you could plug in an external disk to the device if you had a reason to (which I have not tested yet).

So, if you have a ton of media that you want to carry with you, this is the device for you.

Keyboard:

As I mentioned previously, I can type, so I lose productivity when I can't get text on the screen as fast as I am used to. So it is an added bonus to be able to choose whether or not you can use a keyboard and not having to lug a bluetooth keyboard around with you if you needed one with other tablets. Another side bonus to the keyboard is that it acts as a protective covering for the display, eliminating the need to by a tablet case.

Regarding the keyboard, overall, it is not too bad to type on. Having been using a Thinkpad keyboard for years I find that there is a lot more resistance to this keyboard, which seems to tire my fingers out a bit, but it is livable because in no way is it cramped. The keyboard does have a bunch of nice shortcut keys though that make it quick to do a few things on Android.

The Screen:

There are a couple of key things that are great about the screen, the first is of course the resolution. The screen has a resolution of 1280x800 which is a step up from the iPad2's 1024x768 and makes it feel almost on par with a laptop screen which generally have the same resolution. The resolution is fairly crisp, my wife is always asking my why the same photo looks so good on my tablet than it does on her laptop. The other great features of the display are the viewing angle and the scratch resistant screen, which are nice, but I am not particularly interested in testing.

The Cool Factor:

This won't count for much and it won't last long, but if you want to get those looks of wonder as onlookers see what they thought is your netbook suddenly become a tablet, then the TF-101 does the job. I have received so many looks and questions on how it works and how cool it is... I kind of like it. Reminds me of that feeling you get when you buy the first generation of a car and the looks you get as you drive around in it.

Software:

Though this is not a PC, it does come with many programs that make the TF-101 useful right out of the box, there is:

• Polaris Office: A tablet office suit.
• Music (don't think it has a program name): Is a half decent music player
• Gallery: A photo viewing and categorization app that will also import photos automatically if you happen to plug in a camera or iPhone.
• File Manager: Which I suspect is standard with Android devices
• MyNet: Which allows your device to find DNLA devices and play content from them, or use your TF-101 as a DLNA server.
• MyCloud: Which I most likely will not use (comes with unlimited storage for a year, after you have to pay).

There are a few more that I haven't mentioned as well as the widgets and wallpapers available.

Here are all of the things that I think could use some improvement with the TF-101:

Camera:

Though I don't currently have a decent cell phone camera, the camera on the TF-101 doesn't seem to be that great, particularily the front lower resolution camera. The software is easy enough to use, I just find that it is hard to get a really good picture, especially in low light conditions since there is no flash at the back of the device.

It does take adequate pictures, even better in daylight, but it doesn't seem to look quite as good as the pictures taken from an iPhone4, which has the same resolution.

Keyboard/Tablet Connectivity:

I have been finding with use, especially after the device goes into power saving, that the keyboard sometimes seems to disconnect when you come out of power saving. This has happened on a few occassions where I didn't see the keyboard indicator (that was there before power saving), which forced me to disconnect and reconnect the tablet to the keyboard to get access to it.

Touchpad Sensitivity:

This is a problem that occurs with almost every computer with a touch pad, it just seems that on the TF-101 you have to be extra concious of where your fingers are as at almost every turn I find my cursor moving elsewhere on the screen and often end up typing in the wrong location. Granted, there is a button to turn the track pad on and off quickly I think there should be some additional software that will prevent track pad movements when the keyboard is in use (you see this in Linux often).

Missing keys:

I like the keyboard and do think it was well done, but there are a couple of functions I thought would be nice to have on the keyboard:

• A delete key: There only seems to be a backspace key.
• A change apps key: All the other buttons that appear on the screen also appear on the keyboard with the exeption of the switch apps button. Not that it is a terrible problem to actually touch the screen, but it would be better if there was a key you could press to bring up the list of running applications.

Can't connect to ad-hoc wireless networks:

This isn't a TF-101 problem in particular, as I have read all over the net, this is more of an Android problem. Since there is no built in 3G connection, you would need to connect to some sort of mobile network. I have tried with Windows 7 on my laptop and Connectify.me and both have ended up with the TF-101 hanging on obtaining an IP address. I do have a program on my iPhone that turns it into a wifi hotspot and that seems to work just fine, but I just can't seem to share my connection at work.

Summary:

The TF-101 is a great tablet with a lot of fuctionality. Since buying it I have hardly touched my main laptop and am instead using the tablet most of the time. It has been super convenient to have a small, light, long-lasting device that is instant-on when I need to use it. If you are thinking of buying one, don't hesitate, it is an amazing device.

About Me

I am your average technofile that is plugged into and have great interest in all the goings of various tech companies. I am fed a healthy diet of tech information from such podcasts as Buzz out loud (which is now weekly, boo!), Tech News Today, Search Engine... and some others. Am a fan of most things online that are tech related.


I work in IT, mainly with Lotus Domino at the moment, but also with Symantec's Enterprise Vault that is so overly complicated it makes it interesting ;). I write a great deal of internal technical and procedural documentation for the company I work for and have been doing so for about 10 years.


Now for the geek cred part... I got my start in IT from the Commodore 64 that my parents first bought for me way back in the day. I first spent a lot of time trying to swap games and figure out how exactly the thing worked, but mostly spent time on games. Montezuma's revenge, Sammy Lightfoot, Space Taxi, Bruce Lee & Hero were some of my favourites (Canadian spelling sorry), anyone who had a Commodore 64 knows what I am talking about. I also had fun playing back Commodore 64 cassette tape games back in audio cassette decks for the fun or annoyance factor.


Fast forward a bit, I was in high school and started to actually do BASIC programming on the C64, mostly trying to create a text-based RPG that consisted of many many GOTO statements... was fun, especially when you didn't anticipate that you would run out of line numbers. After that got an Amiga 500... if only for the game 'Shadow of the Beast', that game ruled and that computer was way ahead of it's time. I remember wondering when talking with one of my IBM 286 owning friends what the heck a sound card was (since that was already part of the Amiga).


Once I went off to college, started to get my feet wet with the IBM PC (a 486SX), which I had successfully avoided all the way up to this point. I started taking the thing apart and also spent considerable time trying to make the IRQs & DMA settings on my 14.4 modem 'just so' in order to Trumpet Winsock to see them on Windows 3.11. Spent a lot of time learning DOS, batch scripts and how to do stuff on the Toronto Freenet, which was entirely text based.


In college, learned your standard regiment of programming languages... C, C++, Java, Perl, RISC/CISC Assembly as well as tying that into hardware (was a Computer Engineering course). Learned how much I suck at math and formulas, but how much I loved to program and just how many cool things you could do with hardware and software.


Now, I do a very limited amount of programming, mostly Lotus Script and don't have a lot of time to play around as I also have a wonderful family to spend time with. But when I do have time, you will find me putting a new Linux distro on my notebook (I can never keep the same OS on my laptop for more than 3 days, I call it OS ADD), various versions of Windows and playing around with Android 3.2 (writing this on my eePad Transformer).


So in the future, look for my experiences with the various OSes and tech things that I come across and my views of the various news relating to technology.


Thanks for taking the time to read this.


Also thanks to Patrick Beja for the idea of putting 'not' in front of something that you can't get your name on.